Showing posts with label NEMBUTSU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEMBUTSU. Show all posts

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Remember to say the Nembutsu

last revised February 18th, 2024

You must believe that Nembutsu possesses supreme merit and that Amida Buddha with His great compassion of the Primal Vow, will come to embrace one who recites Nembutsu even ten times or just once. Thus believing this, practice Nembutsu for your entire lifetime without negligence”[1]

Commentary:

As I showed in chapter “The Nembutsu is true and real” from my book Simple Teachings on Emptiness and Buddha nature, by quoting many sacred texts, the Name contains the merits of Amida and all Buddhas, as well as the virtues of all Buddhist teachings and practices. “It is the treasure-sea of merits of true Suchness, ultimate reality”[2], as Shinran said. 

Also, Amida protects and embraces those who entrust to Him both in this life as well as in the moment of death when He welcomes them into His Pure Land of Bliss.  

After pointing out that the number of recitations is not important for our birth in the Pure Land, Master Honen encouraged us to say the Name for our entire lifetime. Just as one who was saved from fire will always be grateful to his savior, we should also not be negligent in expressing our gratitude to Amida Buddha for saving us from the repeated births and deaths. This is the reason why sometimes Honen, but also Shinran and Rennyo, insisted on remembering to say the Nembutsu. It was NOT that the number of recitations is important (it isn’t!), but because we should remember to say “thank you” to the one who assured our liberation from samsara.

The Nembutsu is also the expression of faith, so if we really entrusted ourselves to Amida, we’ll surely like to express it by saying His Name.



[1] Teachings of Honen, translated by Yoko Hayashi and Joji Atone, Bukkyo University, Los Angeles, p 243-245
[2] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho, chapter II, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 9

 

Sunday, January 14, 2024

The relation between hearing the Name, faith and saying the Name of Amida Buddha

Amida Buddha promised in His Primal Vow that those who entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land (“sincerely entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and say my Name perhaps even ten times[1]”) will be born there.
 
The reason faith (“entrust to me”), desire to be born in the Pure Land, as well as the saying of the Name (Nembutsu) are mentioned in the same Vow is because they cannot be treated separately. One who has faith in Amida Buddha will naturally say His Name and wish to be with Him in the Pure Land. Thus, there can be no faith separated from Nembutsu, and no Nembutsu separated from faith. Also, there can be no faith and no Nembutsu of faith without the desire to be born in the Pure Land.
 
Recently, a reader expressed the opinion that to say the Name of Amida Buddha is secondary to “hearing the Name”. This is a grave misunderstanding of the Jodo Shinshu teaching which cannot arise if we properly understand the term “hearing the Name”. So, to hear the Name means to have faith (shinjin), as Shinran clearly explained,

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Nembutsu - the Path of the Last Dharma Age (commentary on the words of Bodhisattva Manjushri)

 
"In the Record of Holy Chu-lin Temple, it is recorded: 'While Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and Bodhisattva Manjusri sat facing each other in the east and west and were revealing the wondrous teachings to a multitude of sentient beings in the great hall of Chu-lin Temple on Mount Wut'ai, the meditation master Fachao kneeled and asked Bodhisattva Manjusri, 'What sort of teaching would make it possible for common mortals of the future defiled world to depart from the delusive triple realms forever and to be born in the Pure Land?'
Bodhisattva Manjusri replied, 'There is no practice superior to the recitation of the Name of Amida Buddha for birth in the Pure Land. Even in the path for the instantaneous realization of
Enlightenment, there is the sole teaching of Nembutsu. Therefore, the acclaimed holy teachings from the lifetime of Buddha Shakyamuni are the teachings of Amida Buddha, particularly for the common people in the defiled world of the future.' [1]
 
Commentary:
“Common mortals of the future defiled world” are us, people living in the Last Dharma Age, far removed from the presence in human form of the historical Buddha and His direct disciples.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Say the Nembutsu with an undivided mind

„I beg of you to believe with ever-deepening fervour, and with undivided mind to give yourself up to the Nembutsu.”[1]

Here we can see again that Honen linked the saying of the Name with faith (shinjin), so the  Nembutsu he always urged us to say was the Nembutsu of faith - the Nembutsu centered on Amida’s Power. That Nembutsu is said with an undivided mind which means it is not mixed with other practices and faiths. The salvation offered by Amida Buddha takes place according to the law of karma, so in order to be saved we need to enter into karmic connection with Him. That can be done only if we have exclusive faith in Amida and say only His Name. This is the „undivided mind” Honen speaks about. Focus exclusively on Amida and abandon any reliance on other religious characters from inside or outside Buddhism. All Buddhas are automatically praised when you say the Name of Amida, and nonBuddhist divinities are deluded so they cannot be an object of refuge.



[1] Honen the Buddhist Saint - His Life and Teachings, volume III, compiled by imperial order, translation by Rev Ryugaku Ishizuka and Rev Harper Havelock Coates, The Society for the Publication of Sacred Books of the World, Kyoto, 1949, p. 468

Monday, October 3, 2022

We can always say the Name of Amida Buddha

Question:
If it is said that it does not matter how many times we recite Nembutsu why does Shinran urge us to say it constantly in this hymn:
 
“Those who deeply entrust themselves
To Amida’s Vow of great compassion
Should all say Namo Amida Butsu constantly,
Whether they are waking or sleeping.”
 
My answer: Shinran also said:
 
"In the Primal Vow are the words:
'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times'.
Know from the words 'ten times' that appear from the beginning in the Vow itself that saying the Name is not limited to one utterance. And the word 'perhaps even' makes it clearer still that there is no set number of times one should say the Name."
(Notes on Once-Calling and Many-Callings)
 
"'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times': In encouraging us to say the Name that embodies the Vow, the Tathagata added 'perhaps even' to the words 'ten times' to show that there is no set number of times the Name must be said, and to teach sentient beings that there is no determined hour or occasion for saying it. Since we have been given this Vow by the Tathagata, we can take any occasion in daily life for saying the Name and need not wait to recite it at the very end of life."
(Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls)
 
Honen Shonin also said:
 
"Question: Which is superior in merit: a mere single utterance of nembutsu or ten repetitions of nembutsu?
Answer: They have the same merit with regard to birth in the Pure Land.
[...] The number of recitations is not the issue. The merit of birth in the Pure Land is equal, as is clearly stated in the Primal Vow. How can there be any doubt?"
 
The above passages show that the verses “should all say Namo Amida Butsu constantly, whether they are waking or sleeping” were actually an urge by Shinran to not forget Amida’s benevolence in our daily lives, and NOT that if we do not say Nembutsu day and night or when we are asleep, we are not saved. The Primal Vow is clear: “saying my Name perhaps even ten times”, so Amida did not emphasize the number of Nembutsu recitations. Shinran, who could not contradict Amida Buddha himself, actually wanted to show us that we can remember Amida’s compassion anytime, without regard to time (day or night/awake or asleep) and circumstance, therefore - “we can take any occasion in daily life for saying the Name”; „there is no determined hour or occasion for saying it.”
The Nembutsu of faith can be said anytime, even in the dream when we are asleep (I myself say it in the dream from time to time) or during ANY daily activity.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Honen’s one-page testament


"The method of final salvation that I have propounded is neither a sort of meditation, such as has been practiced by many scholars in China and Japan, nor is it a repetition of the Buddha's name by those who have studied and understood the deep meaning of it. It is nothing but the mere repetition of the 'Namo Amida Butsu,' without a doubt of His mercy, whereby one may be born into the Land of Perfect Bliss. 
The mere repetition with firm faith includes all the practical details, such as the threefold preparation of mind and the four practical rules. If I as an individual had any doctrine more profound than this, I should miss the mercy of the Two Honorable Ones, Amida and Shakyamuni, and be left out of the Vow of the Amida Buddha. 
Those who believe this, though they clearly understand all the teachings Shakyamuni taught throughout His whole life, should behave themselves like simple-minded folks, who know not a single letter, or like ignorant nuns or monks whose faith is implicitly simple. 
Thus without pedantic airs, they should fervently practice the repetition of the Name of Amida, and that alone."[1]

Commentary:

Friday, July 22, 2022

Just say the Nembutsu without adding anything to it


“Once a devotee from the Chinzei district came up to Kyoto to visit Honen at his cottage.
Before meeting him, he asked one of Honen’s disciples if it was a good thing to meditate upon the Buddha’s signs of eminence while one is repeating the Nembutsu. The reply was that it was an excellent thing to do.
 
Honen who was sitting in the adjoining room before the Buddha’s image, overheard the conversation. He opened the sliding door and remarked, ‘I don’t think so. It is as Zendo (Master Shan-tao) says, ‘If a single one of the sentient beings in the ten quarters of the world should fail to be born into the Pure Land through calling of my Name at least ten times, then I refuse for myself the perfect Enlightenment of Buddhahood. Now the fact is that He did become a Buddha and now exists as one. So from this we are perfectly sure that His Great Primal Vow was not in vain. If therefore any sentient being now does call upon His Name, he shall certainly attain Ojo (birth in the Pure Land). No matter how much we may meditate upon the Buddha, we cannot do it in the perfect way as Shakyamuni explained it (in the Contemplation Sutra). So the only thing for us to do is to put our trust deeply in the Primal Vow itself, and call upon the sacred Name with our lips. This is the one and only way to practice religion.[1]’”[2]

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Do not mix Nembutsu with other practices



"The profound heart is the heart that believes profoundly in Nembutsu. It also means to recite exclusively Nembutsu without embracing other practices. If other practices are performed concurrently with Nembutsu, one would be a Nembutsu devotee lacking in the profound heart. To understand that the Three Sutras of Pure Land Buddhism taught by Buddha Shakyamuni

exclusively propagate the sole practice of Nembutsu, to believe that the essence of the forty-eight vows of Amida Buddha is the Vow of the exclusive recitation of Nembutsu, and to recite single-heartedly Nembutsu - these indicate having the profound heart."[1] 

Commentary:

We are the school of the Primal Vow. All we need to know and all we have to do for our salvation is found in the Primal Vow. This is why I explained it word by word in almost 90 pages in my Commentary on the Larger Sutra

We cannot enter into karmic connection with Amida Buddha for birth in the fulfilled land of the Pure Land[2] if we do not do EXACTLY what He asked us to do in His Primal Vow – entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land. These three elements are exclusive requirements so we must have faith only in Amida, say only His Name and wish to be born only in His Pure Land. If we do exactly this and only this, then we receive the karma for birth there after death. 

Friday, July 1, 2022

Faith, Nembutsu and aspiration are one


If one desires to attain birth in the Pure Land, both his heart and practice must be in concert. Therefore, the interpretation of Master Shan-tao reads: ‘Practice alone is not sufficient for the accomplishment of birth in the Pure Land. Neither is aspiration alone. Realization occurs only when aspiration and practice are concomitant.’ 

Both heart and practice must be a single discipline, not only to achieve birth in the Pure Land, but also to realize Enlightenment in the Holy Gate. This is referred to as ‘observing the practice by awakening the heart to Enlightenment’. 

In Jodo Shu (Pure Land school), Master Shan-tao called this ‘the steadfast heart and practice’.”[1]

 Commentary:

“Heart” refers to the “entrusting heart” (shinjin) or faith in Amida Buddha. This is also linked with “aspiration”, which is aspiration or desire to be born in the Pure Land. “Practice” is to say the Name of Amida Buddha.

All these three: faith (shinjin), the saying of the Name and the wish (aspiration) to be born in the Pure Land are the three requirements of Amida in His Primal Vow, where He asked beings to entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land:sincerely entrust themselves to me (faith/shinjin), desire to be born in my land (aspiration), and say my Name (Nembutsu) perhaps even ten times. 

Thursday, June 30, 2022

The number of Nembutsu recitation is NOT important as long as we rely on Amida’s Power



There are some who teach that Nembutsu must be said many times in order to reach birth in the Pure Land, thus forgetting the Power behind the Name which makes the Nembutsu effective.

I would ask these people to try using their own names, John, Marc, Mary, etc, and see if they can attain birth in the Pure Land through them. Of course, they can’t and the reason why is that theirs are empty names without any power.

As the Nembutsu is the saying of Amida’s Name it belongs to Amida and is infused with His infinite merits and Power. This is why it works in bringing us to the Pure Land at the end of our physical bodies. So, it is extremely important that our saying of the Name should be an expression of faith in Amida, and NOT in our capacities to say it often or seldom. 

Each of us has his/her own personal relation with Amida Buddha who saves us one by one, having us always in front of His compassionate eyes. We do not need to be heroes, have the same visions or recitation capacities like Masters of the past, but simply say the Nembutsu according to our personal conditions while keeping in mind that Amida did NOT impose a fixed number of recitations in order to be born in His Pure Land: “say my Name perhaps even ten times”. This expression “perhaps even ten times” means ANY NUMBER from one to ten or to hundreds, thousands and as many as we can.

Friday, June 24, 2022

Nembutsu and daily life

 
last revised February 16th, 2023


“If we only put our trust in Amida’s Primal Vow, there is no doubt whatever about our future destiny, but what are we to do with the present world?’

‘Well, the thing to do is to make the Nembutsu practice the chief thing in life, and to lay aside everything that you think may interfere with it. If you cannot stay in one spot and do it, then do it when you are walking. If you cannot do it as a priest, then do it as a layman. If you cannot do it alone, then do it in the company of others. If you cannot do it and at the same time provide yourself with food and clothing, then accept the help of others and go on doing it. Or if you cannot get others to help you, then look after yourself but keep on doing it. Your wife and children and domestics are for this very purpose, of helping you to practice it, and if they prove an obstacle, you ought not to have any. Friends and property are good, if they too prove helpful, but if they prove a hindrance they should be given up. In short, there is nothing that may not help us to Ojo, so long as it helps us to go on the even tenor of our way through life undisturbed.’”[1] 

Commentary:

The goal of Buddhism is not to attain happiness here and now which is actually impossible as samsara itself is the karmic effect of our own blind passions and ignorance. However, this doesn’t mean that we should neglect our basic needs. Amida devotees also eat, drink, seek shelter, comfort and good company, they get married, have children, property, etc. There is no problem with this. What Honen Shonin advised us is to use all the aspects of our life as support for the Nembutsu Path. The Primal Vow of Amida does not require asceticism, but only the Nembutsu of faith, so try to arrange your personal life in such a way that you be able to walk the Path of Nembutsu. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Say Nembutsu as you are



Honen Shonin said, in reply to a question by Zenshobo: 

“Those who think that it is only the Nembutsu of the pious and learned which can eventuate in Ojo (birth in the Pure Land), and that there is no Ojo for the ignorant and unlettered and those who go in sinning every day, even if they should say the Nembutsu, have not yet grasped the fact that the Primal Vow includes both the good and the bad. 

It is impossible in this life to change man’s nature, which he has inherited through the working of his karma from a pre-existent state, just in the same way as it is impossible for a woman in this life to be changed into a man, no matter how much she might desire it. Those who call upon the sacred Name should do it with the nature they now have, the wise man as a wise man, the fool as a fool, the pious as pious, the irreligious as irreligious, and thus all equally may attain Ojo. 

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Focus on Amida’s Name, not on your monkey mind

 


“Question: ‘When evil thoughts will keep arising within the mind, what ought one to do?
Answer (by Honen Shonin): ‘The only thing to do is to repeat the Nembutsu.’”[1]
 
Commentary:
This is something that I often say in my books, articles and discussions with my Dharma friends. We cannot fix our samsaric minds. We cannot eliminate evil thoughts. We cannot stop thinking. All we can to do is change the focus from whatever appears in our mind to Amida, through the saying of His Name. Just as you don’t take a monkey serious, don’t take your mind serious. We are not saved because of any quality that can be found in our minds and we are not obstructed to be born in the Pure Land by our blind passions and evil thoughts. Our salvation comes from outside of our samsaric mind, so we do not need to bother about it anymore.

Friday, June 17, 2022

Nembutsu is the same no matter who says it

 


“When someone once said to Honen that his repetition of the Nembutsu must be very acceptable to the Buddha, he asked ‘Why?’

‘Because you are a wise man, and know in detail what merit there is in the repetition of the sacred Name, clearly understanding the meaning of the Buddha’s Primal Vow.’

At this Honen replied: ‘You have not yet really come to believe in the Primal Vow at all. As to calling upon the sacred Name of the Primal Vow of the Buddha Amida, it makes no difference whether the man be a wood-cutter, a gatherer of grass or greens, or a drawer of water or the like, whether he be utterly unlettered in Buddhism or other religions. It makes no difference, I say, so long as he calls upon the sacred Name. If he believes his Ojo (birth in the Pure Land) is certain and keeps repeating the Nembutsu, he is the very best kind of believer. If it is possible by wisdom to get free from the bondage of life and death, why indeed should I, Genku (Honen), have given up the Holy Path (Shodo-mon) and devoted myself exclusively to this Pure Land doctrine (Jodo-mon)? The self-discipline of the so-called Holy Path consists in the effort to escape birth and death by the cultivation of one’s wisdom whereas that of the Pure Land consists in coming back to what the world calls foolishness, and thus attain birth into the Land of Bliss.’”[1] 

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Goodness or badness are NOT the cause of birth into the Pure Land

 

Some people were conversing about the future life, some saying that fish-eaters will be born in the Pure Land, others that they will not. Honen overhearing them said, ‘If it is a case of eating fish, cormorants would be born into the Pure Land; and if it is a case of not eating them, monkeys would be so born. But I am sure that whether a man eats fish or not, if he only calls upon the sacred Name, he will be born into the Pure Land.’”[1] 

Commentary:
There is a sentence in Tannisho which explains the reason for such useless discussions about eating or not eating meat in relation with birth in the Pure Land: 

“In truth, myself and others discuss only good and evil, leaving Amida’s benevolence out of consideration”.[2] 

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Honen said the Nembutsu as if already saved by Amida

 

Honen Shonin said: 

“Where one is to receive something from another, which is better, to have already received, or not yet to have received? I, Genku (Honen), repeat the Nembutsu as if I had already received.”[1]

 Commentary:

There are two types of Nembutsu: the Nembutsu of those who don’t have faith, and the Nembutsu of faith.

The Nembutsu of those who are not yet established in faith is said without being sure of their salvation (“not yet to have received” – not yet assured of birth in the Pure Land).  This is because when one relies on one’s own power one cannot have any certainty.

The Nembutsu of faith or Honen’s Nembutsu is said by one who knows that he has already received the assurance of birth in the Pure Land since the moment he entrusted for the first time in Amida (“have already received”).  This is the Nembutsu of Buddha centered Power through which one is certain to attain Ojo[2]. It is also the Nembutsu of “thank you Amida Buddha for saving me as I am”.

 



[1] Honen the Buddhist Saint - His Life and Teachings, volume III, compiled by imperial order, translation by Rev Ryugaku Ishizuka and Rev Harper Havelock Coates, The Society for the Publication of Sacred Books of the World, Kyoto, 1949, p. 400

[2] Ojo means birth in the Pure Land.

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Honen Shonin and the nun in the Ninnaji temple

 

“There was once a nun in the Ninnaji temple who came to Honen, and with a tone of sadness in her voice, said she had made a vow to read the Hokke Sutra (Lotus Sutra) a thousand times over. She had already finished reading it seven hundred times, but as she was now getting quite old, she did not know how to obtain the merit of doing the rest. Then Honen said, ‘You have indeed done well despite your age to read it over seven hundred times. As to the other three hundred, the best thing to do is to apply your whole mind to one thing, and that is the practice of the Nembutsu’.

She took his advice, gave up the reading, and did nothing but call upon the sacred Name all the rest of her life, till she at last attained Ojo (birth in the Pure Land). 

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

We can always say the Name of Amida Buddha

Question: If it is said that it does not matter how many times we recite Nembutsu then why does Shinran urges us to say it constantly in this hymn:

“Those who deeply entrust themselves
To Amida’s Vow of great compassion
Should all say Namo Amida Butsu constantly,
Whether they are waking or sleeping.”

Answer: Shinran also said:

"In the Primal Vow are the words:
'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times'.

Friday, December 10, 2021

Abandon any practice which is not mentioned in the Primal Vow

Master Shan-tao said:

"Abandon the teachings that Amida Buddha abandoned, observe the practice that Amida Buddha observed, and leave the practices that Amida Buddha left. This is said to be 'in accordance with the teaching of Amida Buddha' and 'in compliance with the intent of Amida Buddha'. Such a person is referred to as the 'true disciple of Amida Buddha'". [1]

This passage means that we must abandon everything which is not mentioned in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, where only faith, saying of the Name in faith and wish for birth in the Pure Land are taught. If you do this, you are in accord with Amida's Primal Vow and you are His true disciple. Any practice or teaching which are not mentioned in the Primal Vow, like various meditation methods, mantras or anything else, should NOT be followed because they do not lead to birth in the true fulfilled land of the Pure Land[2]. This does NOT mean those practices are bad! On the contrary, if they were taught by Shakyamuni Buddha they are all perfect and good in themselves, but I repeat, they are not practices leading to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha because they were not mentioned in His Primal Vow. This is the only reason we should not follow them. Mixing the various Dharma gates is wrong and not useful at the level we are now as unenlightened beings.

 



[1] Master Shan-tao quoted by Honen Shonin in An Outline of the Doctrine for Birth in the Pure Land.

[2] The true fulfilled land of the Pure Land is the center of the Pure Land where upon birth there we immediately become Buddhas.

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